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I'm not completely certain, but I think three teenagers were briefly contemplating mugging me and Rhi tonight.
Emphasis on *briefly*.
We keep a bowl near the front door, and every night I dump the coins from my pockets into it. Since it had filled up tonight, we decided to take the coins up the hill to the store where they have one of those machines that totals it for you (for a small percentage) and lets you convert it into bills.
I took the voucher from the machine up to the service desk to get my money (just over $100). Once the lady had given me the bills, I went to put them into my wallet, stepping aside from the window as I did so, to let the person behind me talk to the lady at the desk.
Doing this placed me in view of the front doors, and I saw three teenage boys come in, look around, and stop for a moment by the same change machine I had just used -- although they didn't put anything into it. In the time it took me to get out my wallet, put the money into it, and return my wallet to my pocket, they had gone back outside and were standing outside the doors -- two on the left side of the doors, on one the right. They were not acting particularly aggressive or anything, but there positioning was such that if they decided to jump someone coming out of the store, they could.
Nothing happened... but I'm not sure if that's because they noticed what I was wearing (my old Kung Fu school jacket), or if they realized that Rhi and I definitely do *not* carry ourselves like victims, or if it was because one of them got treated to a look my students used to refer to as "The Sleepy Eyes of Death".
Now I'm mostly curious whether they'd actually intended anything, or if their motions were just coincidence.
Emphasis on *briefly*.
We keep a bowl near the front door, and every night I dump the coins from my pockets into it. Since it had filled up tonight, we decided to take the coins up the hill to the store where they have one of those machines that totals it for you (for a small percentage) and lets you convert it into bills.
I took the voucher from the machine up to the service desk to get my money (just over $100). Once the lady had given me the bills, I went to put them into my wallet, stepping aside from the window as I did so, to let the person behind me talk to the lady at the desk.
Doing this placed me in view of the front doors, and I saw three teenage boys come in, look around, and stop for a moment by the same change machine I had just used -- although they didn't put anything into it. In the time it took me to get out my wallet, put the money into it, and return my wallet to my pocket, they had gone back outside and were standing outside the doors -- two on the left side of the doors, on one the right. They were not acting particularly aggressive or anything, but there positioning was such that if they decided to jump someone coming out of the store, they could.
Nothing happened... but I'm not sure if that's because they noticed what I was wearing (my old Kung Fu school jacket), or if they realized that Rhi and I definitely do *not* carry ourselves like victims, or if it was because one of them got treated to a look my students used to refer to as "The Sleepy Eyes of Death"
Now I'm mostly curious whether they'd actually intended anything, or if their motions were just coincidence.
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In a bizarre sort of way I wish they *had* tried....but I'd have loved to have seen it!!
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Honestly, while I'm glad that they didn't, part of me was sort of hoping they would. I had already looked them over, and knew that the most any of them could have been armed with was a pocket-knife... unpleasant to deal with, and even at my skill levels the odds are good that I would take at least one minor cut...
But what they would have had no way of knowing is how I tend to react to such things.
If someone wants to throw a punch at me, that's one thing. Simple fisticuffs, plain and straight-forward. No big deal. Even if I lose, the results are uncomfortable, but minor.
But pull a weapon on me or mine, and I start getting *pissed*.
This is going to sound egotistical as hell, but... basically, there is only a tiny percentage of the population of this planet that constitutes any significant threat to me unless they have a weapon. As a result, I don't have to go straight into the most lethal modes that I have.
But pull a weapon, and the kid gloves are not just off, they're in shreds on the floor.
Just ask that poor sod in the haunted house that managed to surprise me... the one that I didn't see until he was already in motion with his (fake) knife coming down towards Rhi's head.
In that split-second, he became a "legitimate" threat. ("Legitimate", because I didn't know in that instant that his knife wasn't real.)
In the next split-second, he very nearly lost his life for it.
Fortunately, my conscious mind caught up with my reflexes before I actually *inserted* his fake knife into his rib cage. I think the only real casualty from that encounter was the poor fellow's pants.
I don't *like* it when things happen that require me to use my training, whether armed or otherwise. On the other hand, I *very much* like knowing that when those things happen, I'm capable of dealing with it.
I guess it goes back to the two questions I ask my students whenever they tell me they've gotten into an altercation.
"Did you start it?" and the answer had better be, "No."
"Did you finish it?" and the answer had better be, "Yes."
So long as those are the honest answers, my students are unlikely to catch any retribution from me.
So long as I am confident of being able to give those answers myself, I'm content.